The Dentist 2 (1998)

The PrologueKeeping with the films I talked about on the Horrorphilia podcast we move along here with the sequel to the last review I did in The Dentist 2. Why they felt the need to make a sequel to The Dentist I do not know but I think it might have been a bad idea since nothing of any real importance was improved on and other stuff actually got worse.

Stuff like this is why soo many folks speak very badly on the 90’s and horror.

The MovieDr. Caine, the murdering dentist from the original movie, has escaped from the mental hospital where he has been since being caught. Hoping to resume a normal life, he makes his way to a quiet Midwestern town under a false name and takes on the responsibilities of the town dentist. Things are starting to look up for Caine, until the day when he catches his new love in the arms of someone else. Just as in the first movie, this sends him back over the edge and into another homicidal rampage, with his unfortunate patients bearing the brunt of his hostility.

So this time around Dr. Alan Feinstone changes his name and sadly for the over all movie Corbin Bernsen tries to play the part straight at times showing that the dentist is having an inner war with his sanity. The problem is when The Dr isn’t being overly crazy he isn’t as much fun to watch. And the love interest is clearly an attempt to add another layer to the plot but one we could all do without as well.

The movie picks up a lot faster than the original as it doesn’t take nearly an hour for someone to die this time around, and even the gore is raised up another lever that helps things as well. The problem is there is a lot of plot movement in this one that drags and can nearly put you to sleep as you try to watch it.

Also the film maker hasn’t learned a thing from the first movie in the way of making likable people on screen for the viewer to attach to as you probably won’t like anyone here. Not even Feinstone’s Wife who is out for revenge after the events of the first film, and odd enough looks a lot better than she did when we last seen her. I guess she had a hell of a surgery to fix that mess up.

There’s an early glimpse at what we’d all call “Torture Porn” later as the dentist makes one of the nosy people from town play a little game called “Truth or Tooth”. The lone saving grace for the film as if more of the film was like this I’d have liked it a lot better. Sadly once this scene has come and gone so does the interest in the film.

The ConclusionI’m afraid we’ve taken a full step and a half back from the original this time around and one cool scene and more blood sadly doesn’t make this thing better than the first film. While there was a wide opening for a part 3 I suppose it’s best that they stopped where they did.

I think the world would keep moving if you skipped this one all together.